2005 Ford Mustang GT - Going Green

2005 Ford Mustang GT - Going Green

Dale Amy

April 21, 2010

Horse Sense: On pump gas at about 14 psi, the Paul's setup currently throws 623 hp and 580 lb-ft to the rear tires (on a Mustang dyno), but a methanol-injection kit has recently been fitted to allow dialing up the boost a bit while still running street fuel. The alky hasn't been tested yet, nor has the race-fuel tune that is also in the works.

No, we haven't gone all politically correct on you. The "green" in this case could refer to Legend Lime. Or maybe the color of money, because there's little doubt that a lot has changed hands in the buildup of this project. Or perhaps we're just green with envy at the results. Whatever reference you prefer, welcome to Paul Chapman's wonderfully green '05 GT.

When it originally showed up at Pat Arlia's shop and head-quarters in Milton, Ontario, this S197 GT was nowhere near as wonderful. Pat's speed shop simply goes by the name of its website, Steeda.ca, which, as you might have guessed, lets us know that it's a Canadian online distributor of Steeda's proven hardware. But Pat's crew also does some serious wrenching and tuning, and so got the job of turning Paul Chapman's year-old GT into something special and something that once again ran on all eight cylinders.

You see, Paul had bought the used '05 online a short while earlier, and within only a few weeks, a cylinder died a horrible death, likely as a result of an improper or too aggressive tune for the centrifugal blower that was then on the car. Mr. Chapman managed to get it to Arlia's shop, and basically turned him loose without bothering to impose much in the way of budgetary constraints. He only asked that "the final outcome be clean and simple, unique, and have power-a-plenty for dependable street use."

We'd have to say that he got what he asked for.

Among the first decisions was what to do with the limping long-block. Pat's advice was to ship it down to modular-master Al Papitto at Boss 330 Racing for some boost-friendly upgrades, including 9.0:1 CP pistons, Oliver rods, and a Cobra crank. Al also CNC-ported the Three-Valve heads before bolting on some custom cams, ground for use with turbocharging. The now-toughened assembly was then returned north across the border, and Arlia's crew got to work with their first major task, installation of what started off as an intercooled Turbo HorsePower twin-turbo kit.

Pat chose to upsize the kit's pair of 57mm T3/T4 hybrids to 61mm Garrett GT-series ball-bearing units, and wanted a 3-inch downpipe in place of the kit's 2 1/2-inch version. A bigger three-row Fluidyne radiator also required fabricating new cold-side ducting, so not much of the original kit pipework is left.

Downstream is an H-pipe with electric cutouts (you don't see those everyday!), plumbed just ahead of the cats and feeding a 3-inch MagnaFlow exhaust system. Supporting hardware includes 60-lb/hr injectors fed by upgraded lines and rails from twin GT500 pumps. On the air side are a GT500 throttle body, SCT BA 5000 mass air, and that lovely sheetmetal intake from Hogan's Racing Manifolds.

It's not hard to imagine which catalog provided all the necessary chassis bits-in this case, all three stages of Steeda's full G-Trac kit came onboard, simultaneously lowering, stiffening, and adding much needed traction to the rapidly accelerating (any way you care to read that) project. Nor was deceleration neglected, as StopTech's 14-inch discs now live up front, while the rear stoppers received matching drilled rotors. These binders are all clearly visible behind the black-and-polished, 20-inch ZE forged rims from Boze Alloys.

Note the "TT"-lettered custom center caps, signifying twin turbos, of course. And in case a burnout should ever be required, a brake-control kit (line-lock) from SLP is close at hand, with the activation switch located on a Speed of Sound center-console panel.

Surrounding that console is a pair of Sparco buckets, which themselves are surrounded by a six-point rollcage, finished in gray to match the cabin. The list of Auto Meter Phantom gauges now onboard is pretty extensive, with A/F ratio and intake-air-temp gauges on the A-pillar, along with a small MSD LED shift light; and boost, oil pressure and fuel pressure indicators atop the center stack. Said stack now houses a big-screen Kenwood head unit and the understandably popular start-engine button.

Meanwhile, the outside view of the GT has been made unique and aggressive, yet tastefully restrained, using components from various sources to great effect. For example, Classic Design Concepts' foglight-delete black billet grille looks particularly purposeful above the toothy grin of the contrasting aluminum intercooler that takes up most of the lower grille opening.

Of course, thanks for part of this overall visual subtlety can go to Ford's understated Legend Lime hue, which gives Paul some small chance of not attracting the authorities while touring the Canadian countryside-at least, not until he flips open those electric exhaust cutouts, that is.

To wrap up, this is one of the most logical "green" initiatives we've yet encountered. It may not save the planet, but it surely does improve the environment wherever it shows up.